In what would seem as the most sensible thing to do at this juncture of the 2010 season, Mark Webber has sought to have a sit down and clear any issues with his Red Bull team mate Sebastien Vettel, ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix in two weeks’ time. This comes on the back of the team issuing a directive to its drivers to sort out the Turkish GP mess ahead of the next race.

One wonders though if it will indeed be that simple. The way Red Bull Racing have gone about putting a lid on things, it suggests that they seem to be favoring Vettel. Certainly their young drivers’ program chief Helmut Marko seems to tow that line and has indeed exerted some pressure on team principal Christian Horner to talk in that manner. A very interesting piece by noted F1 commentator James Allen seemed to point towards the possibility of Horner being under pressure to support one driver over the other and we all seem to know who that is.

Webber’s immediate task is a bit easier compared to the long term problem. Right now, he can sit down with Vettel, share a can or two of icy Red Bull drinks between them and say, ‘ok maybe you should have given me more room and maybe I should have given you more room. Let us just promise to do that from here onwards.’ And for Canada, it might even work for the Red Bulls are not expected to run riot over there. There it will be down to which driver can make the most of the Montreal circuit with its long straights and restrict the damage to their chances.

However from the British GP onwards, the problem might just resurge. At Silverstone, with its flowing high speed corners, the Red Bulls are again expected to fly and, Webber and Vettel will look to start winning again. What happens then? What if Vettel wants to make a statement and Webber doesn’t want to relinquish whatever lead he may have over his teammate and possibly other drivers? Can Webber then trust his team which he suspects of siding with his competitor? Can Red Bull cope with a split garage? It is a situation not unknown in Formula One especially when the car is a championship contender and both drivers capable of winning.

The last time that happened was in 2007 when the Fernando Alonso-Lewis Hamilton partnership blew up in the face of McLaren. Ron Dennis’ radio intercept to Lewis in the Chinese GP that ‘they were racing Fernando and not Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari’ should be the stuff of legends and included in a tutorial for team principals how not to favor one driver over another. The Woking team was left clutching at straws as Raikkonen stole the championship from their hands at the last race in Brazil. Of course, isn’t it ironical that McLaren are waiting to pounce if the Red Bulls do go to the gutter this season?